Certain beverage preparation machines use capsules containing ingredients to be extracted or to be dissolved; for other machines, the ingredients are stored and dosed automatically in the machine or else are added at the time of preparation of the drink.
Various beverage machines, such as coffee machines, are arranged to circulate liquid, usually water, from a water source that is cold or heated by heating means, to a mixing or infusion chamber where the beverage is actually prepared by exposing the circulating liquid to a bulk or pre-packaged ingredient, for instance within a capsule. From this chamber, the prepared beverage is usually guided to a beverage dispensing area, for instance to a beverage outlet located above a cup or mug support area comprised or associated with the beverage machine. During or after the preparation process, used ingredients and/or their packaging is evacuated to a collection receptacle.
Most coffee machines possess filling means that include a pump for liquid, usually water, which pumps the liquid from a source of water that is cold or indeed heated through heating means, such as a heating resistor, a thermoblock or the like. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,943,472 discloses a water circulation system for such a machine between a water reservoir and a hot water or vapour distribution chamber, for an espresso machine. The circulation system includes valves, a metallic heating tube and a pump that are interconnected with each other and with the reservoir via a plurality of silicone hoses that are joined together by clamping collars. 2009/043865, WO 2009/074550, WO 2009/130099 and PCT/EP09/058562 disclose further filling means and related details of beverage preparation machines.
To control the characteristics of the liquid circulated to the mixing or infusion chamber, e.g. quantity and/or speed, such machines typically include a flowmeter. The flowmeters used in such beverage machines are made of food safe materials at least where exposed to the circulating fluid and have to be economically affordable to be used in such machines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,666,061 discloses a flowmeter for beverage dispenser lines for wine, mineral water or beer that can be easily disassembled and reassembled for cleaning. The flowmeter has a two-part housing assembled by a bayonet connector and enclosing a measuring chamber. The chamber contains a centred rotatable measuring body having a rotatable shaft held in pace by a pair of facing diamond point bearings mounted into the housing and extending into the chamber. A drawback of this device lies in the price of the diamond point bearings and the required assembly steps for mounting such point bearings into the housing of the flowmeter.
EP 0 841 547 discloses a flowmeter commercialised by DIGMESA which is suitable for beverage preparation machines. This flowmeter has a two-part housing with a bayonet connection having four assembly hooks symmetrically distributed on the periphery of the housing so as to allow four assembly positions of the two housing parts and thus four corresponding positions of the flowmeter's water inlet and outlet located on the two housing parts. The housing contains an inner measuring chamber with a central fixed shaft extending therethrough for mounting an inner rotatable measuring body with fins that are located in the flow path and that are driven thereby. The flow of liquid passing through the measuring chamber is derived from a measure of the speed of rotation of the rotatable measuring body using a Hall sensor. A drawback of this device lies in the large friction surface between the fixed shaft and the rotating measuring body which changes depending on the orientation of the flowmeter and which also affects the accuracy of the measure of the flow through the chamber. For some applications, a plurality of bayonet assembly hooks may be required. The number and size of assembly hooks may depend on the expected pressure under which the flowmeter may have to operate as well as on the assembly forces needed to secure imperviousness of the assembly. Hence, more than one or two assembly hooks may be required, as for example disclosed in the above EP 0 841 547. However, there are only very few situations in which a given flowmeter must be able to switch between different configurations. Most of the time a flowmeter takes one assembly configuration only during its lifetime. Therefore, the multitude of assembly positions can lead to unnecessary assembly mistakes since such flowmeters accept more assembly orientations than needed for their actual intended use.
WO 2009/043865 discloses a flowmeter rigidly fixed onto a PCB via a Hall sensor incorporated into the PCB as an integrated or discrete component. The rigid connection between the flowmeter and PCB via the Hall sensor facilitates automatic assembly. Indeed, with such a connection there is no need to handle loose or free flexible electric connection between the PCB and the flowmeter. WO 2009/043851 also mentions a cableless rigid connection between the flowmeter and a PCB for facilitating automatic assembly. In WO 2009/130099, the flowmeter can be rigidly mounted onto a PCB portion bearing a Hall sensor so that this sensor is assembled with its PCB portion to the flow meter. The PCB may in particular be enclosed in a housing with a through-opening through which the flow-meter extends from the PCB for connection within a fluid circuit extending outside the housing of the PCB.
GB 2 382 661 discloses a flowmeter for sensing fluid flow, comprising a sensor assembly adapted to be attached to a housing. The housing includes a rotatable impeller and is closed by a cap. The sensor assembly comprises a cover part having a chamber in which an electrical circuit board is located. A Hall Effect sensor is attached and coupled with the electronic circuit board. The electronic board comprises means for processing electrical signal received from the hall effect sensor and transmits a flow rate signal to a cable which is supposed to be connected to a control device or flow rate display.
A drawback of this device lies in the limited surface available inside the chamber, reducing drastically the possibilities to embed electronic components required to implement complex functions, generally devolved to the controller of the machine. Hence, the integration of said flowmeter with the controller board of a beverage machine is relatively complex, since it is necessary to connect the electronic board of the flowmeter with a cable to the controller of the beverage machine. Consequently, supplementary operations consisting in connecting the electronic board to a connector of the controller board are required and increase the manufacturing costs of the beverage machine.
There is still a need to improve the integration of a flowmeter with the control unit of a fluid circuit, in particular of a beverage preparation machine. In particular, there is a need to improve the integration of flowmeters to reduce the manufacturing costs of devices containing flowmeters.